1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device that holds advertisement placards, temporary license plates, and advertisement media, such as brochures and DVDs, which device is attachable to the standard license plate screw bosses of a vehicle.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Car dealerships are busy and hectic places where buyers and sellers meet in order to try to place a vehicle, either new or used, with a buyer at a price that is acceptable to both the buyer and seller. One aspect of the sales process that is experienced countless times a day is the test drive. A buyer, upon seeing a vehicle that may be of interest for purchase, gets behind the wheel of the vehicle and road tests the vehicle in order to assess its road worthiness. This basic vehicle sales task is oftentimes the difference between a sale of the vehicle and a rejection, whereupon the buyer keeps looking. While a fairly standard routine, the test drive has certain inconveniences for the salesperson as well as the buyer. As it is customary, due to the expense involved, not to tag each individual vehicle on a given dealership lot, prior to taking the vehicle off of the lot, a temporary license tag must be affixed to the vehicle.
One method used by dealers to tag a vehicle for a test drive is to magnetically attach a plate to an appropriate location on the vehicle such as the trunk lid. Magnets affixed to the back surface of the license tag couple to an appropriate metal surface on the body of the vehicle and remain thereat during the test drive. Upon completion of the test drive, the license tag is decoupled from the vehicle and stored as desired for subsequent use on another vehicle. Although this method works reasonably well, it is not without shortcomings. The magnetic contact of tag to vehicle can lead to scratches being left on the vehicle. Such scratches result in the need for the detail department to spend time and effort (and of course money of the dealership) in order to remove the scratches. In serious situations, such as those involving high-end luxury vehicles, the scratches can result in a rejection of acceptance of the vehicle by the putative buyer. Additionally, such tags can become dislodged and fly off of the vehicle during the test drive resulting in the expense of replacement of the tag and possibly the costs of repairing another vehicle on the road that is struck by the dislodged low flying tag, neither result desired by the dealership. Some jurisdictions, recognizing the potential for harm caused by a dislodged tag during a test drive, specifically prohibit magnetic attachment of temporary tags to vehicles being test driven.
To combat the shortcomings of using a magnetically adhered tag, many dealers install a tag in the usual way by screwing the tag to the existing license plate screw bosses located at the front and rear of the vehicle, although many dealers only attach a rear tag during a normal test drive. Many vehicle dealers place a dealership advertisement tag in the normal license plate position during the initial vehicle prep work which tag is one component of the dealership's advertisement scheme. Accordingly, the salesperson must remove this advertisement tag prior to installation of the license plate tag used for the test drive. Upon completion of the test drive, the license plate tag must be removed and the dealership advertisement tag, if not inadvertently misplaced, which can happen during a typical hectic sales effort, replaced. Although relatively simple, such a process is inconvenient and time-consuming for both the salesperson and the customer and results in a higher level of frustration for each during the sales process.
Another aspect of the car purchasing process that gives car dealers pause involves the after-hours shopper. A large portion of would-be vehicle purchasers frequent car dealerships after hours when such shoppers can stroll the lot freely and inspect various vehicles without the added stress of the presence of a salesperson. Such buyers, either through demand of schedule, or simply the desire to shop free of sales pressures, attend the lots outside of the business hours of the dealership. Once a desired vehicle is identified, such shoppers make contact with the dealership either telephonically or by visitation during regular business hours of the dealership. The problem for the dealership in attending to such after hours shoppers is the fact that, due to the absence of a salesperson that can pump up the various vehicles on the lot, the potential buyer may not be exposed to the most desirable features of a particular vehicle. Although the buyers can do research on-line after visiting the dealership, many would-be buyers may not place certain vehicles on their desirable list simply through visual inspection of the vehicle and the perceptions attained therefrom. Although the vehicle may have most, if not all of the features desired by a buyer, the buyer may never learn of such qualifications of the vehicle and may never consider the vehicle for purchase. Without the presence of a salesperson on the lot after hours, the dealer faces challenges in informing the would-be buyer of the desirability of certain vehicles on the dealer's lot.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for a system that can assist a vehicle dealership in the sales process, which system addresses the aforementioned short comings currently found in the art. Specifically, such a system must allow a salesperson to quickly and securely attach a license tag to a vehicle in order to make the particular vehicle legal for road testing. Such attachment must be achieved without fear of scratching or scuffing the body of the vehicle in order to prevent diminution of the value of the vehicle. The attachment process must be relatively quick and easy so that it does not unnecessarily burden either the salesperson or the potential buyer, each of whom may have a busy schedule. The attachment of the tag to the vehicle must be relatively secure in order to minimize the potential for the tag becoming dislodged during road testing of the vehicle so as to prevent loss of the tag and/or damage to other vehicles on the road. Such a tag attachment system should work in harmony with any advertisements secured to the vehicle in the tag receptacle areas of the vehicle. The system should be able to offer a potential buyer, present in the lot when no salesperson is available, advertisements and other pertinent details about the particular vehicle being inspected or at least the make and model of the vehicle in order to allow a potential buyer to have the ability to decide whether a given vehicle meet's the would-be buyer's criteria for a vehicle. Ideally, such a system should be of relatively simple design and construction and must be easy to install, maintain, and use.